Evening primrose oil and borage oil offer little, or no, benefit for people with eczema, according to a report out today.
Research carried out by the University of Minnesota Medical School and Essential Health System in Duluth, Minnesota, USA, into the complementary therapies found that people taking evening primrose or borage oil experienced little improvement in their eczema symptoms over placebos such as olive oil and paraffin oil.
The review, published in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, says the evidence was such that further studies on the therapies would be “difficult to justify”.
Between 10-20% of children suffer from atopic eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, with symptoms including tight, red, painful skin, itching and scratching. Symptoms improve or disappear altogether in adulthood for 60%.
Creams, ointments, bath additives, topical steroids and antihistamines are commonly used to alleviate the condition, but complementary therapies, such as evening primrose oil and borage oil, are also popular as it is believed they can help.
The benefits and side effects associated with evening primrose oil and borage oil were analysed from in 27 studies that involved a total of 1,596 adults and children in 27 countries. Participants took evening primrose oil or borage oil, or a placebo, for between 3 and24 weeks.
However, those taking evening primrose or borage oil showed no clear improvement of eczema symptoms over placebos.
“There is no evidence that taking either evening primrose or borage oil is of benefit to eczema sufferers,” said lead researcher Joel Bamford. “Given the strength of the evidence in our review, we think further studies on the use of these complementary therapies to treat eczema would be hard to justify.”
Bamford JTM, Ray S, et al. Oral evening primrose oil and borage oil for eczema. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD004416. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004416.pub2 [abstract]
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